


Akuta's secret (that's actually about an entirely different thing)

by DeadlyWeiss



Category: Yabai (comic), 悪の秘密結社
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 10:29:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24848320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadlyWeiss/pseuds/DeadlyWeiss
Summary: Yabai Kamen’s mother goes check on him after he moves out and ends up getting the wrong impression about his relationship with Maid Shitsuji.
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

Ever since Akuta had moved out last year, Rui had taken it upon her to check on him by calling at least once a week — though she was certainly impressed by how much her son had grown during his time as president of the Secret Society of Darkness, she knew Akuta better than anyone, and being one step away from disaster was practically second nature to him. Of course, she was never truly in the dark about what was going on with him thanks to the fact that Yabai Kamen reported to his “boss” fairly regularly, but even so, there was quite a difference between talking to him as a superior and as a mother.

“Do you have any idea of how many times I’ve tried to get in touch with you the past few days?’”

“God, mom, I already said I’m sorry. I missed a few phone calls, it’s not the end of the world.”

“You’re out there getting the crap beat out of you for a living, of course I get worried!” She didn’t make the call with the intention of guilt-tripping Akuta, but if he was going to act like that, he had more than earned it. “You know, I’d feel better if I knew you had someone in your life, Akuta. Someone to take care of you besides me…”

He scoffed.

“Well, I have someone to take care of things for me now, so you don’t have to worry.”

“You do?”

“Yes, I have—” Akuta stopped himself, then immediately switched to the hurried tone he used when he had a sudden realization. “It’s nothing important.”

“Akuta.”

“I have a maid now. So, you know, they clean and cook and all that sh— stuff.” 

Now it was her turn to fall silent. Suddenly, she wasn’t sure whether Akuta had genuinely slipped, whether he had realized where the conversation was headed and had decided to mess with her in an effort to keep her from bringing the subject up again, or whether the company was actually doing so well that he had simply decided to hire a maid at some point; regardless, if it was anything Akuta felt was worth hiding from her, then that was more than enough reason for her to snoop around.

“…Mom, are you still there?”

“Akuta, are you busy next weekend?”


	2. Chapter 2

Her first impression of the apartment building was that it was okay. Not shabby enough to make her wonder whether Akuta was having more trouble than usual paying his bills, but not so fancy that the neighbors would pay attention to what he did closely enough to think anything of seeing Yabai Kamen come and go, other than maybe finding his supposed job as a stage actor slightly weird.

She rang the bell and waited.

“Coming!”

The voice didn’t sound like it belonged to Akuta, and as the door opened and she found herself standing face to face with what was very clearly a monster, her immediate reaction was to take out her phone to double check the address. It was definitely the right place, so that probably meant that it was one of the newer employees; there had been so many in the past weeks that Yabai Kamen no longer called his “boss” as soon as there was a new hire to introduce them, rather, he just made quick group presentations whenever there was some other business to tend to. Ultimately, it made little difference to the employees, who knew they had to answer to Yabai Kamen for the company’s daily operations.

Of course, she wasn’t supposed to know any of _that_.

“Er, I’m sorry. I was looking for Akuta Takamoto….”

“You must be the president’s mother. I’m Maid Shitsuji.” The monster put their hands together on their lap and bowed. A proper one, too, not a nod or a half-hearted attempt, which had her scrambling to bow in return. “The president had some business to attend to, and he isn’t home right now, but he let me know you were coming. Please, allow me, mistress Takamoto.”

Then, before she could even begin to explain that she was fine with carrying her luggage inside by herself, Maid Shitsuji grabbed both of her suitcases as if they weighted nothing and gestured towards the living room, stepping aside so she knew to go first and wait for them to close the door.

Taking the opportunity to have a closer look at Maid Shitsuji without being caught staring, Rui realized that the way the back of their clothes was tied with a bow and extended into a skirt made the outfit look like a dress from behind, and she frowned. Between what the monster was wearing and their name, maybe Akuta had _really_ meant it when he said he had gotten a maid, and had simply wanted to avoid the awkwardness of explaining how he ended up with a monster working for him.

“I’ll take this to the guest room. Make yourself at home.”

“Yes, thank you.”

As soon as Maid Shitsuji disappeared into the hall, Rui quickly turned the television on and started looking around the place — for proof that Akuta was having _someone_ over with certain frequency, that the place only looked clean and in order but it was actually messy and in desperate need of a mother’s touch under the surface, for anything that proved that she was right in thinking that Akuta had something to hide besides his usual business with the actual Secret Society of Darkness, really. But despite her efforts, just like with the exterior of the apartment, everything seemed perfectly normal; the only thing she would consider even remotely out of the ordinary were Maid Shitsuji's boots, which were next to the entrance.

By the time Maid Shitsuji came back, now holding a pile of black clothes in one hand and a thread and needle on the other, she had already given up and taken a seat in front of the television.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll be finishing with these while we wait for the president.”

“Maid Shitsuji, right? So, how did you and Akuta meet?”

“Through the Secret Society of Darkness.”

“You were a fan?”

Maid Shitsuji let out a surprisingly high-pitched laugh as they sat opposite of her and started working on checking the clothes for holes and tears, mending whatever imperfection they found along the way.

“Not quite. Have you gotten to meet many of those, mistress?”

“Maybe I would if I got to see more of his shows, Akuta _never_ lets me know on time!” Rui could recognize an attempt at deflection when she saw one, so she pressed on. “But maybe now that he has you, he will actually remember.”

“I will make sure to remind him.”

Unfortunately for her, all further attempts at steering the conversation towards either Akuta or any subject deeper than the weather were met with the same polite obstruction. Between the convenient distraction provided by both the television and the sewing, and the way Maid Shitsuji was actively resisting her, she didn’t notice that a couple of hours had passed until the program switched over to the news, and a clock appeared on the corner of the screen to inform viewers that it was past nine.

“It’s getting late. I can wait for Akuta on my own if you need to get going.”

“I live here, so there’s no need for you to worry about that.”

Rui wasn’t sure whether to call that progress, but it was better than nothing. Either way, the conversation was suddenly cut short by the sound of the door opening, which prompted Maid Shitsuji to leave everything they were still holding on the nearby table before standing up. 

“Fuck, what a long day. I’m beat.” It was, of course, Akuta. “Maid Shitsuji! What’s for dinner?”

“Welcome home, president.”

Admittedly, Maid Shitsuji walking over to the entrance to make sure that Akuta headed straight to the living room as soon as he was done taking his shoes off, giving him the opportunity to notice that she had not only already arrived, but had been waiting for him for a while, would have been quite smooth if only the other person involved had been someone even slightly more capable of being subtle than her son.

Instead, Akuta completely failed to hide his surprise.

“Mom?! What ar—“

Typical. The second time, Maid Shitsuji took a more aggressive approach at helping him, and they interrupted Akuta under the pretense of taking away his jacket to hang it.

“I already showed mistress Takamoto her room, _like you told me to_ , and we’re having beef curry. If you give me a moment, I will serve dinner.”

“Right. Right. Thank you, Maid Shitsuji.”

He let himself fall onto the chair, leaning all the way back for a second or two before remembering his manners and straightening himself up. 

“So, how long are you planning on staying, mom?”

“Just for the weekend. I have to get back to work on Monday.”

“I wish you didn’t have to worry about that. You’ll see, when I make it big, I’ll be the one to handle your bills.”

“I’m still young, there’s plenty of time until you have to take care of me, Akuta. Just focus on your work for now.”

“Oh, _you_ get to tell _me_ not to worry?”

There was a brief moment of silence after that, which Maid Shitsujiu used to quickly put down the plates and drinks in front of them without interrupting. The food wasn’t perfect, but it was pleasant enough to look at, and still obviously far better than anything Akuta was able to cook on his own.

“If there is nothing else, president, mistress, I will head to bed now. Don’t worry about the dishes, I’ll take care of them tomorrow.”

“Yeah, you’re excused.”

Maid Shitsuji took a bow before leaving for the hall, presumably to pick up the stuff they had left in the living room and have one less mess to take of in the morning. Akuta then wasted practically no time to start stuffing his face — she knew that when it came to her son, she ultimately could corner him if she really put her mind into it, but she was stating to feel hungry as well, and there would be plenty of time later.


	3. Chapter 3

Perhaps it was her motherly pride, perhaps it was just stubbornness — either way, the next morning, Rui decided to completely disregard what Maid Shituji’s had said about letting them take care of the household chores, instead getting up early, not only to do the dishes, but also to cook breakfast. It took a bit of guess work and luck, but she managed to get up before Maid Shitsuji, and she made her way to the kitchen without waking either them or Akuta up.

Though it immediately became obvious that both the fridge and the pantry had been stocked on a budget, they weren’t missing anything essential, and because they were relatively well organized, she had little trouble finding all the ingredients she needed. 

Breakfast was almost done by the time Maid Shitsuji walked into the kitchen. It took them a moment to realize what was happening, at which point they stopped right on their tracks, then hurried to join her at the stove.

“Mistress, you shouldn’t have bothered.”

“I figured that I could use the chance to cook some of Akuta’s favorite food. It’s been a while since I last made it for him.”

Maid Shitsuji looked down at the pan, clearly trying to identify what she was cooking without having to resort to asking her directly, then back at her.

“I can take it from here. I know how to prepare that.”

Without waiting for an answer, Maid Shitsuji grabbed the handle of the pan with the clear intention of moving it closer to them, but before they could do so, Rui put her own hand on top of theirs to stop them. When it came to raw strength, she didn’t have much of a chance against a monster, but she did have a trick up her sleeve — with a smile, she looked at Maid Shitsuji right in the eye as she moved her hand away.

“Better than his mother?”

The corner of Maid Shitsuji’s mouth twitched in an attempt to hide their displeasure before their expression finally settled on a forced smile, and they let go off the pan.

“Of course not, mistress.” They stepped away from the oven and instead, they went to open one of the drawers. Conveniently, this also meant that she could no longer see their face.“I will go set the table, then. The president should be done getting ready at any moment now.”

The next few minutes went by in silence as she kept an eye on the stove to make sure the food wouldn’t burn by accident, occasionally stirring the contents of the pan so it would finish cooking evenly, while Maid Shitsuji got three seats ready. By the time everything was finally ready, Rui realized that maybe, just _maybe_ , it was in the best interest of them both to not get into a petty argument over who got to prepare the food, and instead of serving it herself, she gestured at Maid Shitsuji to let them know that they should do it instead.

Akuta walked in shortly after that, wearing his suit and looking ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

“It smells great!”

Seeing her son enjoy himself had always made Rui happy, and the smile on his face as he sat down and started eating was almost enough to make her feel satisfied about her visit. Even Maid Shitsuji seemed pleased, despite the monster’s initial reaction to seeing her cooking, and the two of them joined Akuta at the table.

“President, we couldn’t move today’s schedule to Monday, but the employees assured me your presence wouldn’t be required for more than a couple of hours.”

“I see.” Akuta’s mouth was full, so he quickly swallowed before continuing. “Mom, I still have work to do, but I’ll be back by lunch and we can eat out together. Maid Shitsuji will keep you company in the meantime.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

“I do have some errands for today, but I should be able to get them done in Canal City. I think you will enjoy it, mistress.”

The insistence made it sound like Maid Shitsuji was actually meant to keep an eye on her, so she nodded as she watched Akuta take out his wallet and hand a couple of bills to the monster — though she couldn’t help but notice that they had to pull on the money a bit before Akuta finally let it go.

“President, you should get going.”

Akuta looked at his watch, muttering a string of curses as he finished what was left on his plate and got up.

“See you later, mom. Maid Shitsuji, take care of her.”

****

Doing errands wasn’t suddenly more interesting just because she was doing it in Fukuoka and not at home, but Maid Shitsuji was acceptable company, all things considered, and the open design of the mall combined with the sunny-but-not-too-hot weather at least made the walk nice. The fact that no one seemed to think much of an older woman and a monster shopping together gave her pause, but it was very convenient for their particular situation, so she decided to not think too much about it.

The errands themselves were fairly simple, mostly consisting of picking up of things that the department was missing, and just like with her luggage, Maid Shitsuji quickly ended up being the one carrying all the bags.

“Now that we’re alone, mistress, there’s something I would like your help with.” They were almost done with Maid Shitsuji’s list when they made them stop in front of a store selling second-hand toys and other kinds of memorabilia. “I have been considering different options for a birthday gift for the president, and I would like your opinion.”

“There’s still a couple of months left for his birthday.”

“I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to find something suitable. Besides, I also have to take into account the time it will take me to get the other employees to contribute.” 

Maid Shitsuji pointed toward the glass.

The display had all kind of merchandise from various Hanagata shows, but the center piece was a fully articulated figure of the Great A’s arch-nemesis, displaying its range of motion by being posed in a way that mirrored one of the villain’s most iconic appearances. Rui couldn’t see the price tag, since it was facing towards the inside of the store, but between the size and how well made it looked, the figure probably costed a couple thousand yens.

“So? What do you think?”

Rui took another look at the figure. Anyone that knew Akuta for more than five minutes would be able to tell that he was a fan of villainous characters, but what really caught her off-guard was the fact that the figure was not only of Akuta’s favorite one, but it was specifically of the form Akuta liked best — it would be easy to assume that he preferred the first, classic form, or one of his flashier power ups, when it reality, his favorite form was a sleek black and purple armor that had only showed up in a couple of movies.

“He will like it a lot.”

“Perfect.”

There was a brief moment of silence as Maid Shitsuji wrote down something on the back of the list.

“…You and my son are pretty close, aren’t you?”

“It’s only natural for maids and butlers to know their masters, wouldn’t you say?”

“Ah, so it’s part of your job.”

“Of course. But I would like to consider myself a friend of his, too.”

With that done, it seemed like the only thing left was getting the last few items they were missing before heading to the restaurant and waiting for Akuta to be done with work. But as they made their way to the other side of the mall, and they passed by the fifth or so person practically running toward the electronics store on that floor, Rui’s curiosity finally became too much to ignore.

“Geez, what’s with all the commotion?”

“They seem to be watching something, mistress.”

The reason why people were gathering around the store became obvious even before they could actually see anything; as soon as they were within earshot, Rui began to hear the small crowd talking about Yabai Kamen and the hero that had apparently showed up to stop him. Maid Shitsuji wasted to time, and the monster pushed away some of the people so they could both make their way to the front.

On the screen, a hero in red armor was… _fighting_ was probably not the right word for what he was doing, which was basically standing in Yabai Kamen’s way every time he tried to get away.

_”Why do you always have to cause trouble when I’m in town?”_

_"No one is asking you to do anything, you pest!"_

Out of the corner of her eye, Rui looked at Maid Shitsuji. It helped quite a bit that by then pretty much everyone in that section of the mall had gathered around the screens in order to watch, but even so, it didn’t take much effort to realize that unlike most of the other people there, their attention was focused on Yabai Kamen instead of on the hero.

“Oh, dear. I think I forgot my phone somewhere.”

Maid Shitsuji looked away from the screen.

“Where? I’ll get it for you.”

“Hm. I don’t remember…. it must have been in one of the shops we visited today…” She pretended to go through her purse in an exaggerated manner as the two of them walked away from the crowd to have some more space. “How about you finish with the list while I go check? We can meet at the restaurant since we have to wait for Akuta, anyway.”

Maid Shitsuji looked hesitant, no doubt because they were thinking about how they were supposed to be keeping an eye on her and trying to decide whether their general duty to their boss superseded specific instructions. Still, since the sound of the crowd gasping and cheering meant that things weren’t going too well for Yabai Kamen, and the chances of something happening to her while in a mall were fairly slim, their choice quickly became clear.

“Very well, mistress. If you do not find it, we will go looking for it together again after lunch.”

They bowed, and Rui waited until they were out of sight to move back to the front of the electronics store. Without help, it was considerably more difficult getting to a spot that let her have a good view of the screens, but she managed to do so just in time to see whoever was manning the camera attempt to turn it away from Yabai Kamen and the hero and move it toward something else.

_“I’m going to need this, if you don’t mind.”_

Maid Shitsuji was careful to not appear on-camera even as they took it away.

_”Oh, you even brought the goat.”_

_”For the last time, **I am not a goat** —!!“_

And with that, the image went dark.

The crowd began to disperse, and Rui waited what she considered a prudent amount of time before sending a message to Maid Shitsuji, in which she explained that she wasn’t feeling too well and had decided to head home early, but that it wasn’t anything serious, and that they should feel free to have lunch with Akuta anyway.

***

Just like she expected, Akuta and Maid Shitsuji didn’t make it back to the apartment until late into the evening, at which point she figured it would be best to pretend not to hear them — she _was_ worried sick, but she wouldn’t get anything out of talking with them except being lied to about how things at the stage show had gotten a little rougher than usual. And, yes, it didn’t hurt that she would get the opportunity to listen to whatever it was they talked about when they thought there was no one around to hear it.

“Mom! We’re home!” She stood still under the sheets in case Akuta decided to check on her, though the lack of a response was apparently enough for him. “Good, she’s asleep already.”

Much to her frustration, though the department was pretty quiet, it still wasn’t enough for her to be able to hear their conversation all the way to the room with clarity, specially because they were almost certainly lowering their voices in an effort to avoid waking her up. She was pretty sure that they were in the living room, though, and since the layout of the department meant that she could go rather far into the hall before they would see her, she waited until she was sure that Akuta wouldn’t be coming back before she got up.

They were both pretty beaten up, but Akuta had clearly gotten the worst of it. At least, enough for him to want to lie down on the couch, his legs on top of Maid Shitsuji’s lap as the monster cleaned his wounds with alcohol.

“Are you done yet?”

“I would work faster if you stopped moving so much.” Maid Shitsuji put the alcohol aside and started bandaging him up. “Mistress Takamoto asked a lot of questions today.”

“Shit. Do you think she suspects something?”

“Have you considered telling her, president?”

“What? No, can you imagine what it would do to her?” Akuta tried to get up, but Maid Shitsuji pushed him back down without missing a beat. “She already thinks _fake_ fights are dangerous.”

“And if she sees me and Yabai Kamen together?”

“In this economy? We’ll tell her that’s your other job.”

Even from the distance, she could tell that Maid Shitsuji didn’t look too convinced. Still, they didn’t say anything about it, and they quietly continued what they were doing for a couple more minutes.

“…It seems to me that she cares for you a lot.”

“Hmh. Yes, she does.”

“That was the last one, president. You should be feeling better tomorrow.”

“How about you?”

“I’ll be fine after some rest.”

Apparently anticipating some sort of insistence on Akuta’s part, Maid Shitsuji pushed him off the couch — gently enough to not hurt him further, but with enough strength to make him complain under his breath as he got on his feet. However, Maid Shitsuji did take Akuta’s arm as he offered it to them to help them get up.

The topic of the conversation then changed to company business, and since it looked like they would be leaving at any moment, Rui turned around and headed back to the room.


	4. Chapter 4

On Sunday, both Maid Shitsuji and Akuta were looking a lot better — they kind of gave the impression of barely having managed to get any sleep, but considering that just a couple of hours ago Akuta had walked in looking like he had been hit by a truck, it was a considerable improvement.

Still, she would really prefer that Akuta didn’t push himself too far, and it was precisely because he seemed to have every intention of making it up to her for having had to work the last past two days that Rui decided she had already gotten what she wanted out of the visit, and that it would be best for her to leave earlier.

The one thing she couldn’t get out of was, of course, having Maid Shitsuji finish packing her luggage while she had breakfast with Akuta.

“I’m sorry, mom, I know you came here to spend time with me.”

“Oh, it’s alright, I’m glad to see that your company keeps you so busy. You’re doing fine, and that’s all that matters to me.”

“It would be better if you didn’t sound so surprised.”

“I can be surprised _and_ proud.”

She knew that Akuta could go on for quite a while if allowed, and apparently Maid Shitsuji did was well, because they chose that moment to walk into the kitchen, saving her the trouble of having to be the one to cut the conversation short.

“Your luggage is ready.”

“Thank you, Maid Shitsuji.”

“It was a pleasure, mistress. I hope you will come visit us again soon.”

“You can call me Rui. Keep looking over my son, alright?”

“I will.”

Rui smiled. In the end, it didn’t really matter whether Akuta had gotten himself an employee, a friend, or something more; if they were someone who helped Akuta chase his dreams, it was fine by her.


End file.
